Delaware County, Ohio - Chapter 2: Early Explorations in the West, 1880

Chapter 2: Early Explorations in the West

W'HEN war, when ambition, when avarice fail, religion pushes onward and succeeds. In the discovery of the New World, wherever man's aggrandizement was the paramount aim, failure was sure to follow. When this gave way, the followers of the Cross, whether Catholic or Protestant, came on the field, and the result before attempted soon appeared, though in a diiferent way and through diiferent means than those supposed. The first permanent efforts of the white race to penetrate the Western wilds of the New World preceded any permanent English settlement north of the Potomac. Years before the Pilgrims anchored their bark on the cheerless shores of Cape Cod, "the Roman Catholic Church had been planted by missionaries from France in the Eastern moiety of Maine; and LeCaron, an ambitious Franciscan, the companion of Champlain, had passed into the hunting-grounds of the Wyandots, and, bound by the vows of his life, had, on foot or paddhng a bark canoe, gone onward, taking alms of the until he reached the rivers of Lake

Huron." This was in 1615 or 1616, and only eight years after Champlain had sailed up the waters of the St. Lawrence, and on the foot of a bold cliff laid the foundation of the present City of Quebec. Prom this place, founded to hold the country, and to perpetuate the religion of his King, went forth those emissaries of the Cross, whose zeal has been the admiration of the world. The French Colony in Canada was suppressed soon after its establishment, and for five yekrs, until 1622, its immunities were enjoyed by the colonists. A grant of New France, as the country was then known, was made by Louis XIII to Richelieu, , Champlain, Razilly and others, who, immediately after the restoration of Quebec by its English conquerors, entered upon the control and government of their province. Its limits embraced the whole basin of the St. Lawrence and of such other rivers in New France as flowed directly into the sea. While away to the south on the Gulf coast, was also included a country rich in foliage and claimed in virtue of the unsuccessful efforts of Coligny.

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Religious zeal as much as commercial prosperify had influenced France to obtain and retain the dependency of Canada. The commercial monopoly of a privileged company could not foster a colony ; the climate was too vigorous for agriculture, and, at first there was little else except religious Enthusiasm to give vitality to the province. Champlain had been touched by the simphcity of the Order of St. Francis, and had selected its priests to aid him in his work. But another order, more in favor at the Court, was interested, and succeeded in excluding the mendicant order from the New World, established themselves in the new domain and, by thus enlarging the borders of the French King, it became entrusted to the Jesuits.

Tiis "Society of Jesus," founded, by Loyola when Calvin's Institutes first saw the light, saw an unequaled opportunity in the conversion of the heathen in the Western wilds ; and,' as its members, pledged to obtain power only by influence of mind over mind, sought the honors ofopening the way, there was no lack of men ready for the work. Through them, the motive power in opening the wilds of the Northwest was religion. " Religious enthusiasm," says Bancrofl, "colonized New England, and religious enthusiasm founded Montreal, made a conquest of the wilderness about the upper lakes, and explored the Mississippi."

Through these priests - increased in a few'years to fifteen - a way was made across the West from Quebec, above the regions of the lakes, below which they dared not go for the relentless Mohawks. To the northwest of Toronto, near the Lake Iroquois, a bay of Lake Huron, in September, 1634, they raised the first humble house of the Society of Jesus among the Hurons. Through them they learned of the great lakes beyond, and resolved one day to explore them and carry the Gospel of peace to the heathen on their shores. Before this could be done, many of them were called upon to give up their lives at the martyr's stake and receive a martyr's crown. But one by one they went on in their good work. If one fell-by hunger, cold, cruelty, or a terrible death, others stood ready, and carrying their lives in their hands, established other missions about the eastern shores of Lake Huron and its adjacent waters. The Five Nations were for many years hostile toward the French" and murdered them and their red allies whenever opportunity presented. For a quarter of century, they retarded the advance of the missionaries, and then only after wearied with a long struggle, in which they began to see their power declining, did they relinquish their warlike propensities, and allow the Jesuits entrance to their country. While this was going on, the ^traders and Jesuits had penetrated farther and farther westward, until, when peace was declared, they had seen the southwestern shores of Lake Superior and the northern shores of Lake Michigan, callefd by them Lake Illinois.* In August, 1654, two young adventurers penetrated the wilds bordering on these western lakes in company with a band of Ottawas. Returning, they tell of the wonderful country they have seen, of its vast forests, its abundance of game, its mines of copper, and excite in their comrades a desire to see and explore such a country. They tell of a vast expanse of land before them, of the powerfiil Indian tribes dwelling there, and of their anxiety to become annexed to the Frenchman, of whom they have heard. The request is at once granted. Two missionaries, Gabriel Dreuillettes and Leonard Gareau, were selected as envoys, but on their way the fleet, propelled by tawny rowers, is met by a wandering band of Mohawks and by them is dispersed. ' Not daunted, others stood ready to go. The lot fell to Ren6 Mesnard. He is charged to visit the wilderness, select a suitable place for a 'dwelling, and found a mission. With only a short warning he is ready, "trusting," he says, "in the Providence which feeds the little birds of the desert and clothes the wild flowers of the forest." In October, 1660, he reached a bay, which he called St. Theresa, on the south shore of Lak Superior. After a residence of eight months, he yielded to the invitation of the Hurons who had taken refuge on the Island of St. Michael, and bidding adieu to his neophytes and the French, he departed. While on the way to the Bay of Chegoi-me-gon, probably at a portage, he became separated from his companion and was never afterward heard of Long after, his cassock and his breviary were kept as amulets among the Sioux. DiflS.cuIties now arose in the management of the colony, and for awhile it was on the verge of dissolution. The King sent a regiment under command of the aged Tracy, as a safeguard against the Iroquois, now proving themselves enemies to

*Mr. 0. W. Butterfield, author of Crawford's Campaign^ and good authority, says : "John Nicholet, a Frenchman, left Quebec and Three Rivers iu the summer of 1634, and visited the Hurons on Georgian Bay, the Cbippewas at the Sault Ste. Marie, and this Winnebagoes in Wisconsin, returning tolQuebec in the summer of 1635. This was the iirst white man to see any part of the Northwest Territory. In 1641, two Jesuit priests were at the Sault Ste. Marie for a brief time. Then two French traders reached Lake Superior, and after them came that tide of emigration on which the French based their claim to the country," the French. Accompanying him were Courcelles, as Grovernor, and M. Talon, who subsequently figures in Northwestern history. By 1665, affairs were settled and new attempts to found a mission among the lake tribes were projected.

"With better hopes - undismayed by the sad fate of their predecessors" in August, Claude AUouez embarked on a mission by way of Ottawa to the Far West. Early in September he reached the rapids through which rush the waters of the lakes to Huron. Sailing by lofty sculptured rocks and over waters of crystal purity, he reached the Chippewa village just as the young warriors were bent on organizing a war expedition against the Sioux. Cottimanding peace in the name of his King, he called a council and oiFered the commerce and protection of his nation. He was obeyed, and soon a chapel arose on the shore of the bay, to which admiring crowds from the south and west gathered to listen to the story of the Cross.

The scattered Hurons and Ottawas north of Lake Superior ; the Pottawatomies from Lake Michigan ; the Sacs and Foxes from the Far West ; the Illinois from the prairies, -all came to hear him, and all besought him to go with them. To the last nation Allouez desired to go. They told him of a " great river that flowed to the sea, "and of "their vast prairies, where herds of buffalo, deer and other animals grazed on the tall grass." "Their country," said the missionary, "is the best field for the Grospel. Had I had leisure, I would have gone to their dwellings to see with my own eyes all the good that was told me of them."

He remained two years, teaching the natives, studying their language and habits, and then returned to Quebec. Such was the account that he gave, that in two days he was joined by Louis Nicholas and was on his way back to his mission.

Peace being now established, more missionaries came from France. Among them were Claude Dablon and James Marquette, both of whom went on to the mission among the Chippewas at the Sault. They reached there in 1668 and found Allouez busy. The mission was now a reality and given the name of St. Mary. It is often written " Sault Ste. Marie," after the French method, and is the oldest settlement by white men in the bounds of the Northwest Territory. It has been founded over two hundred years. Here on the inhospitable northern shores, hundreds of miles away from friends, did this triumvirate employ themselves in extending their religion and the influence of their

King. Traversing the shores of the great lakes near them, they pass down the western bank of Lake Michigan as far as Green Bay, along the southern shore of Lake Superior to its western extremity, everywhere preaching the story of Jesus. " Though suffering be their lot and martyrdom their crown," they went on, only conscious that they were laboring for theh' Master and would, in the end, win the crown.

The great river away to the West of which they heard so much was yet unknown to them. To explore it, to visit the tribes on its banks and preach to them the GrOspel and secure their trade, became the aim of Marquette, who originated the idea of its discovery. While engaged at the mission at the Sault, he resolved to attempt it in the autumn of 1669. Delay, however, intervened - for Allouez had exchanged the mission at Che-goi-me-gon for one at Green Bay, whither Marquette was sent. While here he employed a young Illinois Indian to teach him the language of that nation, and thereby prepare himself for the enterprise.

Continued commerce with the Western Indians gave protection and confirmed their attachment. Talon, the intendant of the colony of New France, to further spread its power and to learn more of the country and its inhabitants, convened a congress of the Indians at the Falls of St. Mary, to which he sent St. Lusson on his behalf Nicholas Perrot sent invitations in every direction for more than a hundred leagues round about, and fourteen nations, among them Sacs, Foxes and Miamis, agreed to be present by their embassadors.

The congress met on the fourth day of June, 1671. St. Lusson, through Allouez, his interpreter, announced to the assembled natives that they, and through them their nations, were placed under the protection of the French King, and to him were their furs and peltries to be traded. A cross of cedar was raised, and amidst the groves of maple and of pine, of elm and hemlock that are so strangely intermingled- on the banks of the St. Mary, the whole company of the French, bowing before the emblem of man's redemption, chanted to its glory a hymn of the seventh century :

A cedar column was planted by the cross and marked with the lilies of the Bourbons. The power of France, thus uplifted in the West of which Ohio is now a part, was, however, not destined

The same year that the congress was held, Marquette had founded a mission among the Hurons at Point St. Ignace, on the continent north of the peninsula of Michigan. Although the climate was severe, and vegetation scarce, yet fish abounded, and at this establishment, long maintained as a key to further explorations, prayer and praise were heard daily for many years. Here, also, Marquette gained a footing among the founders of Michigan. While he was doing this, AUouez and Dablon were exploring countries south and west, going as far as the Mascoutins and Kickapoos on the Milwaukee, and the Miamis at the head of Lake Michigan. AUouez continued even as far as the Sacs and Foxes I on the river which bears their name.

The discovery of the Mississippi, heightened by these explorations, was now at hand. The entcirprise, projected by Marquette, was received with favor by M. Talon, who desired thus to perpetuate his rule in New France, now drawing to a close. He was joined by Joliet, of Quebec, an emissary of his King, commissioned by royal magnate to take possession of the country in the name of- the French. Of him but little else is known. This one excursion, however, gives him immortality, and as long as time shall last his name and that of Marquette will ©ndure. When Marquette made known his intention to the Pottawatomies, they were filled with wonder, and endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose. "Those distant nations," said they, " never spare the strangers; the Great River abounds in monsters, ready to swallow both men and canoes ; there are great cataracts and rapids, over which you will be dashed to pieces; the excessive heats will cause your death." " I shall gladly lay down my life for the salvation of souls," replied the good man; and the docile nation joined him.

On the 9th day of June, 1673, they reached the village on Fox River, where were Kickapoos, Mascoutins and Miamis dwelling together on an expanse of lovely prairie, dotted here and thereby groves of magnificent trees, and where was a cross garlanded by wild flowers, and bows and arrows, and skius and belts, offerings to the Great Manitou. AUouez had been here in one of his wandering's, and, as was his wont, had left this emblem of his faith.

enlighten them with the Gospel." Offering presents, he begged two guides for the morrow. The Indians answered courteously, and gave in return a mat to serve as a couch during the long voyage.

Early in th^ morning of the next day, the 10th of June, with all nature in her brightest robes, these two men, with five Frenchmen and two Algonquin guides, set out on their journey. Lifting two canoes to their shoulders, they quickly cross the narrow portage dividing the Fox from the Wisconsin River, and prepare to embark on its clear waters. " Uttering a special prayer to the Immaculate Virgin, they leave the stream, that, flowing onward, could have borne their greetings to the castle of Quebec. 'The guides returned,' says the gentle Marquette, 'leaving us alone in this unknown land, in the hand of Providence.' France and Christianity stood alone in the valley of the Mississippi. Embarking on the broad Wisconsin, the discoverers, as they sailed west, went solitarily down the stream between alternate prairies and hillsides, beholding neither man nor the wonted beasts of the forests ; no sound broke the silence but the ripple of the canoe and the lowing of the buffalo. In seven days, 'they entered happily the Great River, with a joy that could not be expressed ; ' and the two birchbark canoes, raising their happy sails uijder new skies and to unknown breezes, floated down the calm ! magnificence of the ocean stream, over the broad, clear sand-bars, the resort of innumerable waterfowl - gliding past islets that swelled fi-om the bosom of the stream, with their tufts of massive thickets, and between the wild plains of Illinois and Iowa, all garlanded with majestic forests, or checkered by island groves and the open vastness of the prairie."*

Continuing on down the mighty stream, they saw no signs of human life until the 25th of June, when they discovered a small foot-path on the west bank of the river, leading away into the prairie. Leaving their companions in the canoes, Marquette and Joliet foUowed. the path, resolved to brave a 'meeting alone with the savages. After a walk of six miles they came in sight of a village on the banks of a river, while not far away they discovered two others. The river was the " Mouin-gou-e-na," or Moingona, now corrupted into Des Moines. These two men, the first of , their race who ever trod the soil west of the Great

River, commended themselves to God, and, utterinp; a loud cry, advanced to the nearest village. The Indians hear, and thinking their visitors celestial beings, four old men advance with reverential mien, and offer the pipe of peace. " We are Illinois," said they, and they offered the calumet. They had heard of the Frenchmen, and welcomed them to their wigwams, followed by the devouring gaze of an astonished crowd. At a great council held soon after, Marquette published to them the true Grod, their Author. He, also spoke of his nation and of his King, who had chastised the Five Nations and commanded peace. He questioned them concerning the Great River and its tributaries, and the tribes dweUing on its banks. A magnificent feast was spread before them, and the conference continued several days. At the close of the sixth day, the chieftains of the tribes, with numerous trains of warriors, attended the visitors to their canoes, and selecting a peacepipe, gayly comparisoned, they hung the sacred calumet, emblem of peace to all and a safeguard among the nations, about the good Father's neck, and bid the strangers good speed. "I did not fear death," writes Marquette; "I should have esteemed it the greatest happiness to have died for the glory of God." On their journey, they passed the perpendicular rocks, whose sculptured sides showed them the monsters they should meet. Farther down, they pass the turgid flood of the Missouri, known to them by its Algonquin name, Pekitanoni. Resolving in his heart to one day explore its flood, Marquette rejoiced in the new world it evidently could open to him. A little farther down, they pass the bluffs where now is a mighty emporium, then silent as when created. In a little less than forty leagues, they pass the clear waters of the beautiful Ohio, then, and long afterward, known as the Wabash. Its banks were inhabited by numerous villages of the peaceftil Shawanees, who then quailed under the incursions of the dreadftil Iroquois. As they go on down the mighty stream, the canes become thicker, the insects more fierce, the heat more intolerable. The prairies and their cool breezes vanish, and forests of whitewood, admirable for their vastness and height, crowd close upon the pebbly shore. It is observed that the Chickasaws have guns, and have learned how to use them. Near the latitude of 33 degrees, they encounter a great village, whose inhabitants present an inhospitable and warlike front. The pipe of peace is held aloft, and instantly the savage foe drops his arms and extends a friendly greeting.

Remaining here till the next day, they are escorted lor eight or ten leagues to the village of Akansea. They are now at the limit of their voyage. The Indians speak a dialect unknown to them. The natives show furs and axes of steel, the latter proving they have traded with Europeans. The two travelers now learn that the Father of Waters went neither to the Western sea nor to the I* lorida coast, but straight south, and conclude not to encounter the burning heats of a tropical clime, but return and find the outlet again. They had done enough now, and must report their discovery.

On the 17th day of July, 1673, one hundred and thirty-two years after the disastrous journey of De Soto, which led to no permanent results, Marquette and Joliet left the village of Akansea on their way back. At the 38th degree, they encounter the waters of the Illinois which they had before noticed, and which the natives told them afforded a much shorter route to the lakes. Paddling up its limpid waters, they see a country unsurpassed in beauty. Broad prairies, beautiful uplands, luxuriant groves, all mingled in excellent harmony as they ascend the river. Near the head of the river, they pause at a great village of the Illinois, and across the river behold a rocky promontory standing boldly out against the landscape. The Indians entreat the gentle missionary to remain among them, and teach them the way of life. He cannot do this, but promises to return when he can and instruct them. The town was on a plain near the present village of Utica, in La Salle County, 111., and the rock was Starved Rock, afterward noted in the annals of the Northwest. One of the chiefs and some young men conduct the party to the Chicago River, where the present mighty city is, from where, continuing their journey along the western shores of the lake, they reach Green Bay early in September.

The great valley of the West was now open. The "Messippi" rolled its mighty flood to a 'southern sea, and must be sully explored. Marquette's health had keenly suffered by the voyage and he concluded to remain here and rest. Joliet hastened on to Quebec to report his discoveries. During the journey, each had preserved a description of the route they had passed over, as well as the country and its inhabitants. While on the way to Quebec, at. the foot of the rapids near Montreal, by some means one of Joliet's canoes became capsized, and by it he lost his box of papers and two of his men. A greater calamity could have

" I had escaped every peril from the Indians ; I had passed forty-two rapids, and was on the point of disembarking, full of joy at the success of so long and difficult an enterprise, when my canoe capsized after all the danger seemed over. I lost my two men and box of papers within sight of the French settlements, which I had left almost two years before. Nothing remains now to me but my life, and the ardent desire to employ it in any service you may please to direct."

When Joliet made known his discoveries, a Te Deum was chanted in the Cathedral at Quebec, and all Canada was filled with joy. The news crossed the ocean, and the French saw in the vista of coming years a v^t dependency arise in the valley, partially explored, which was to extend her domain and enrich her treasury. Fearing England might profit by the discovery and claim the country, she attempted as far as possible to prevent the news from becoming general. Joliet was rewarded by the gift of the Island of Anticosti, in the St. Lawrence, while Marquette, conscious of his service to his Master, was content with the salvation of souls.

Marquette, left at Green Bay, suffered long with his malady, and was not permitted, until the autumn of the following year (1674), to return and teach the Illinois Indians. With this purpose in view, he left Green Bay on the 25th of October with two Frenchmen and a number of Illinois and Pottawatomie Indians for the villages on the Chicago and Illinois Rivers. Entering Lake Michigan, they encountered adverse winds and waves and were more than a month on the way. Going some distance up the Chicago River, they found Marquette too weak to proceed farther, his malady having assumed a violent form, and landing, they erected two huts and prepared to pass the winter. The good missionary taught the natives here daily, in spite of his afflictions, while his companions supplied him and themselves with food by fishing and hunting. Thus the winter wore away, and Marquette, renewing his vows, prepared to go on to the village at the foot of the rocky citadel, where he had been two years before. On the 13th of March, 1675, they left their huts and; rowing on up the Chicago to the portage between that and the Desplaines, embarked on their way. Amid the incessant rains of spring, they were rapidly borne down that stream to the Illinois, on whose rushing flood they floated to the object of their destination. At the great town the missionary was received as a heavenly messenger, and as he preached to them of heaven and hell, of angels and demons, of good and bad deeds, they regarded him as divine and besought him to remain among them. The town then contained an immense concourse of natives, drawn hither by the reports they heard, and assembling them before him on the plain near their village, where now are prosperous farms, he held before their astonished gaze four large pictures of the Holy Virgin, and daily harangued them on the duties of Christianity and the necessity of conforming their conduct to the words they heard. His strength was fast declining and warned 'him he could not long remain. Finding he must go, the Indians furnished him an escort as far as the lake, on whose turbulent waters he embarked with his two faithfiil attendants. They turned their canoes for the Mackinaw Mission, which the afflicted missionary hoped to reach before death came. As they coasted along the eastern shores of the lake, the vernal hue of May began to cover the hillsides with robes of green, now dimmed to the eye of the departing Father, who became too weak to view them. By the 19th of the month, he could go no farther, and requested his men to land and build him a hut in which he might pass away. That done, he gave, with great composure, directions concerning his burial, and thanked God that he was permitted to die in the wilderness in the midst of his work, an unshaken believer in the faith he had so earnestly preached. As twilight came on, he told his weary attendants to rest, promising that when death should come he would call them. At an early hour, on the morning of the 20th of May, 1675, they heard a feeble voice, and hastening to his side found that the gentle spirit of the good missionary had gone to heaven. His hand grasped the crucifix, and his lips bore as their last sound the name of the Virgin. They dug a grave near the banks of the stream and buried him as he had requested. There in a lonely wilderness the peaceful soul of Marquette had at last found a rest, and his weary labors closed. His companions went on to the mission, where the news of his death caused great sorrow, for he was one beloved by all.

Three years after his burial, the Ottawas, hunting in the vicinity of his grave, determined to parry his bones to the mission at their home, in accordance with an ancient custom of their tribe. Having opened the grave, at whose head a cross had been planted, they careftiUy removed the bones and cleaning them, a funeral procession of thirty canoes * bore them to the Mackinaw Mission, singing the songs he had taught them. At the shores of the mission the bones were received by the priests, and, with great ceremony, buried under the floor of the rude chapel.

While Marquette and Joliet were exploring the head-waters of the "Great River," another man, fearless in purpose, pious in heart, and loyal to his country, was living in Canada and watching the operations of his fellow countrymen with keen eyes. When the French first saw the inhospitable shores of the St. Lawrence, in 1535, under the lead of Jacques Cartier, and had opened a new country to their crown, men were not lacking to further extend the discovery. In 1608, Champlain came, and at the foot of a cliff on that river founded Quebec. Seven years after, he brought four Recollet monks ; and through them and the Jesuits the discoveries already narrated occurred. Champlain died in 1635, one hundred years after Cartier's first visit, but not until he had explored the northern lakes as far as Lake Huron, on whose rocky shores he, as the progenitor of a mighty race to follow, set his feet. He, with others, held to the idea that somewhere across the country, a river highway extended to the Western ocean. The reports from the missions whose history has been given aided this belief; and not until Marquette and Joliet returned was the delusion in any way dispelled. Before this was done, however, the man to whom reference has been made, Robert Cavalier, better known as La Salle, had endeavored to solve the mystery, and, while living on his grant of land eight miles above Montreal, had indeed effected important discoveries. La Salle, the next actor in the field of exploration after Champlain, was born in 1643. His father's family was among the old and wealthy bm-ghers of Rouen, France, and its members were frequently entrusted with important governmental positions. He early exhibited such traits of character as to mark him among his associates. Coming from a wealthy family, he enjoyed all the advantages of his day, and received, for the times, an excellent education. He was a Catholic, though his subsequent life does not prove him to have been a religious enthusiast. From some cause, he joined the Order of Loyola, but the circumscribed sphere of action set for him in the order illy concurred with his independent disposition, and led to his separation from it. This was effected, however, in a good spirit, as they considered him fit for a different field of action than any presented by the order. Having a brother in Canada, a member of the order of St. Sulpice, he determined to join him. By his connection with the Jesuits he had lost his share of his father's estate, but, by some means, on his death, which occurred about this time, he was ' given a small share; and with this, in 1666, he arrived in Montreal. All Canada was alive with the news of the explorations; and La Salle's mind, actively grasping the ideas he afterward carried out, began to mature plans for their perfection. At Montreal he found a seminary of priests of the St. Sulpice Order who were encouraging settlers by grants of land on easy terms, hoping to establish a barrier of settlemente between themselves and the Indians, made enemies to the French by Champlain's actions when founding Quebec. The Superior of the seminary, learning of LaSalle's arrival, gratuitously offered him a grant of land on the St. Lawrence, eight miles above Montreal. The grant, though dangerously near the hostile Indians, was accepted, and La Salle soon enjoyed an excellent trade in furs. While employed in developing his claim, he learned of the great unknown route, and burned with a desire to solve its existence. He applied himself closely to the study of Indian dialects, and in three years is said to have made great progress in their language. While on his farm his thoughts often turned to the unknown land away to the west, and, like all men of his day, he desired to explore the route to the Western sea, and thence obtain an easy trade with China and Japan. The " Great River, which flowed to the sea," must, thought they, find an outlet in the Gulf of California. While musing on these things, Marquette and Joliet were preparing to descend the Wisconsin; and La Salle himself learned from a wandering band of Senecas that a river, called the Ohio, arose in their country and flowed to the sea, but at such a distance that it would require eight months to reach its mouth. This must be the Great River, or a part of it: for all geographers of the day considered the Mississippi and its tributary as one stream. Placing great confidence on this hypothesis, La Salle repaired to Quebec to obtain the sanction of Gov. Courcelles. His plausible statements soon won him the Governor and M. Talon, and letters patent were issued granting the exploration. No pecuniary aid was offered, and La Salle, having expended all his means in improving his estate, was obliged to sell it to procure the necessary outfit. . The Superior of the seminary being favorably disposed toward him, purchased the greater part of his improvement, and realizing 2,800 livres, he purchased four canoes and the necessary supplies for the expedition. The seminary was, at the same time, preparing for a similar exploration. The priests of this order, emulating the Jesuits, had established missions on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Hearing of populous tribes still fiirther west, they resolved to attempt their conversion, and deputized two of their number for the purpose. On going to Quebec to procure the necessary supplies, they were advised of La Salle's expedition down the Ohio, and resolved to unite themselves with it. La Salle did ilot altogether favor their attempt, as he believed the Jesuits already had the field, and would not care to have any aid from a rival order. His disposition also would not well brook the part they assumed, of asking him to be a co-laborer rather than a leader. However, the expeditions, merged into one body, left the mission on the St. Lawrence on the 6th of July, 1669, in sdven canoes. The party numbered twenty-four persons, who were accompanied by two canoes filled with Indians who had visited La Salle, and who now acted as guides. Their guides led them up the St. Lawrence, over the expanse of Lake Ontario, to their village on the banks of the Genesee, where they expected to find guides to lead them on to the Ohio. As La Salle only partially understood their language, he was co.mpelled to confer with them by means of a Jesuit stationed at the village. The Indians refused to furnish him the expected aid, and even burned before his eyes a prisoner, the only one who could give him any knowledge he desired. He surmised the Jesuits were at the bottom of the matter, fearful lest the disciples of St. Sulpice should gain a foothold in the west. He lingered here a month, with the hope of accomplishing his object, when, by chance, there came by an Iroquois Indian, who assured them that at his colony, near the head of the lake, they could find guides ; and ofiered to conduct them thither. Coming along the southern shore of the lake, they passed, at its western extremity, the mouth of the Niagara River, where they heard for the first time the thunder of the mighty cataract between the two lakes. At the village of the Iroquois they met a friendly reception, and were informed by a Shawanese prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks' time, and that he would guide them there. While preparing to commence the journey, they heard of the missions to the northwest, and the priests resolved to go there and convert the natives, and find the river by that route. It appears that Louis Joliet met them here, on his return from visiting the copper mines, of Lake Superior, under command of M. Talon. He gave the priests a map of the country, and informed them that the Indians of those regions were in great need of spiritual advisers. This strengthened their intention, though warned by La Salle, that the Jesuits were undoubtedly there. The authority for Joliet's visit to them here is not clearly given, and may not be true, but the same letter which gives the account of the discovery of the Ohio at this time by La Salle, states it as a fact, and it is hence inserted. The missionaries and La Salle separated, the former to find, as he had predicted, the followers of Loyola already in the field, and not wanting their aid. Hence they return from a fruitless tour,

La Salle, now left to himself and just recovering from a violent fever, went on his journey. From the paper from which these statements are taken, it appears he went on to Onondaga, where h^ procured guides jfo a; tributary of the Ohio, down which he proceeded to the principal stream, on whose bosom he continued his way till he came to the falls at the present city of Louisville, Ky. It has been asserted that he went on down to its mouth, but that is not well authenticated and is hardly true. The statement that he went as far as the falls is, doubtless, correct. He states, in a letter to Count Prontenac in 16T7, that he discovered the Ohio, and that he descended it to the falls. Moreover, Joliet, in a measure his rival, for he was now preparing to go to the northern lakes and from them search the river, made two maps representing the lakes and the Mississippi, on both of which he states that La Salle had discovered the Ohio. Of its course beyond the falls, La Salle does not seem to have learned anything definite, hence his discovery did not in any way settle the great question, and elicited but little comment. Still, it stimulated La Salle to more effort, and while musing on his plans, Joliet and Marquette push on from Green Bay, and discover the river and ascertain the general course of its outlet. On Joliet's return in 1673, he seems to drop from further notice. Other and more venturesome souls were ready M finish the work begun by himself and the zealous Marquette, who, left among the far-away nations, laid down his life. The spirit of

Histoky Op Ohio

La Salle was equal to the enterprise, and as he now had returned from one voyage of discovery, he stood ready to solve the mystery, and gain the country for his King. Before this could be accomplished, however, he saw other things must be done, and made preparations on a scale, for the time, truly marvelous.

Count Frontenac, the new Governor, had no sooner established himself in power than he gave a searching glance over the new realm to see if any undeveloped resources lay yet unnoticed, and what country yet remained open. He learned from the exploits of La Salle on the Ohio, and from Joliet, now returned from the West, of that immense country, and resolving in his mind on some plan whereby it could be formally taken, entered heartily into the plans of La Salle, who, anxious to solve the mystery concerning the outlet of the , Great River, gave him the outline of a plan, sagacious in its conception and grand in its comprehension. La Salle had also informed him of the endeavors of the English on the Atlantic coast to divert the trade , with the Indians, and partly to counteract this, were the plans of La Salle adopted. They were, briefly, to build a chain of forts from Canada, or New France, along the Ja,kes to the MissLssippi, and on dowa that river, thereby holding the country by power as well as by discovery. A fort was to be built on the Ohio as soon as the means could be obtained, and thereby hold that country by the same policy. Thus to La Salle alone may be ascribed the bold plan of gaining the whole West, a plan only thwarted by the force of arms. Through the aid of Frontenac, 'he was given a, proprietary and the rank of nobility, and on his proprietary was erected a fort, which he, in honor of his Governor, called Fort Frontenac. It stood on the site of the present city of Kingston, Canada. Through it he obtained the trade of the Five Nations, and his fortune was so far assured. He next repaired to France, to perfect his arrangements, secure his title and obtain means.

On his return he built the fort alluded to, and prepared to go on in the prosecution of his plan. A civil discord arose, however, which for three years prevailed; and seriously threatened his projects. As soon as he could extricate himself, he again repaired to France, receiving additional encouragement in money, grants, and the exclusive privilege of* a trade in buffalo skins, then considered a source of great wealth. On his return, he was accompanied by Henry Tonti, son of an illustrious Italian nobleman, who had fled from his own country during one of its political revolutions. Coming to France, he made himself famous as the founder of Tontine Life Insurance. Henry Tonti possessed an indomitable will, and though he had suffered the loss of one of his hands by the explosion of a grenade in one of the Sicilian wars, his courage was undaunted, and his ardor undimmed. La Salle also brought recruits, mechanics, sailors, cordage and saiis for rigging a ship, and merchandise for traffic with the natives. At Montreal, he secured the services of M. LaMotte, a person of much energy and integrity of character. He also secured several missionaries before he reached Fort Frontenac. Among them were Louis Hennepin, Gabriel Ribourde and Zenabe Membre. All these were Flemings, all Recollets. Hennepin, of all of them, proved the best assistant. They arrived at the fort early in the autumn of 1678, and preparations were id, once made to erect a vessel in which to navigate the lakes, and a fort at the mouth of the Niagara River. The Senecas were rather adverse to the latter proposals when La Motte and Hennepin came, but by ^he eloquence of the latter, they were pacified and rendered friendly. After a number of vexatious delays, the vessel, the Griffin, the first on the lakes, was built, and on the 7th of August, a year after La Salle came here, it was launched, passed over the waters of the northern lakes, and, after a tempestuous voyage, landed at Green Bay. It was soon after stored with furs and sent back, while La Salle and his men awaited its return. It was never afterward heard of. La Salle, becoming impatient, erected a fort, pushed on with a part of his men, leaving part at the fort, and passed over the St. Joseph and Kankakee Rivers., and thence to the Illinois, down, whose flood they proceeded to Peoria Lake, where he was obliged to halt, and return to Canada, for more men and supplies. He left Tonti and several men to complete a fort, called Fort " Crevecceur " - broken-hearted. The Indians drove the French, away, the men mutinied, and Tonti was obliged to flee. When La Salle returned, he found no on^ there, and going down as far as the mouth of the Illinois, he retraced his steps, to find some trace of his garrison. Tonti was found safe among the Pottawatomies at Green Bay, and Hennepin and his two followers, sent to explore the head-waters' of the Mississippi, were again home, after a captivity among the Sioux.

Histoky Of Ohio

He left Canada early in December, 1681, and by February 6, 1682, reached the majestic flood of the mighty stream. On the 24th, they ascended the Chickasaw Bluffs, and, while waiting to find a sailor who had strayed away, erected Fort Prudhomme, They passed several Indian villages further down the river, in some of which they met with no little opposition. Proceeding onward, erelong they encountered the tide of the sea, and April 6, they emerged on the broad bosom of the Gulf, " tossing its restless billows, Jimitless, voiceless and lonely as when born of chaos, without a sign of life."

Coasting about a short time on the shores of the Gulf, the party returned until a sufficiently dry place was reached to effect a landing. Here another cross was raised, also a column, on which was inscribed these words: ^

" The whole party," says a " proces verbal," in the archives of France, " chanted the Te Deum, the ISxaudiat and the Domine salvum fac Regem, and then after a salute of fire-arms and cries of, Vive le Roi, La Salle, standing near the column, said in a loud voice in French :

"In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth of that name, this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty two, I, in virtue of the commission of His Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and whiph may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of His Majesty and of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbor, ports, bays, adjacent straights, and all the nations, people, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers, comprised in the extent of said Louisiana, from the north of the great river St. Louis, otherwise called tAe Ohio, Alighip, Sipore or Chukagona, and this with the consent o% the Chavunons, Chickachaws, and other people dwelling therein, with whom we have made alliance ; as also along the river Colbert or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein from its source beyond the Kious or Nadouessious, and this with their consent, and with the consent of the Illinois, Mesigameas, Natchez, Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have made alliance, either by ourselves or others in our behalf, as far as its mouth at the sea or Gulf of Mexico, about the twenty-seventh degree of its elevation of the North Pole, and also to the mouth of the River of Palms; upon the assurance which we have received .from all these nations that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the river Colbert, hereby protesting against all those who may in future undertake to invade any or all of these countries, peoples or lands, to the prejudice of the right of His Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations herein named."

The whole assembly responded with shouts and the salutes of fire-arms. The Sieur de La Salle caused to be planted at the foot of the column a plate of lead, on one side of which was inscribed the arms of France and the following Latin inscription:

RobertTS Cavellier, cvm Domino de Tonly, Legato, R. P. Zenobi Membro, RecoUecto, et, Vigintl Gallis Primo3 Hoc Flvmen inde ab ilineorvm Pago, enavigavit, ejvsqve ostivm fecit Pervivvm, nono Aprilis cio ioc LXXXII.

Thus was the foundation of France laid in the new republic, and thus did she lay claim to the Northwest, which now includes Ohio, and the county, whose history this book perpetuates.

La Salle and his party returned to Canada soon after, and again that country, and Prance itself, rang with anthems of exultation. He went on to France, where he received the highest honors. He was given a fleet, and sailors as well as colonists to return to the New World by way of a southern voyage, expecting to find the mouth of the Mississippi by an ocean course. Sailing past the outlets, he was wrecked on the coast of Texas, and in his vain endeavors to find the river or return to Canada, he became lost on the plains of Arkansas, where he, in 1687, was basely murdered by one of hisfollowers. " Youaredown now, GrandBashaw," exclaimed his slayer, and despoiling his remains, they left them to be devoured by wild beasts. To such an ignominious end came this daring, bold adventurer. Alone in the wilderness, he was left, with no monument but the vast realm he had discovered, on whose bosom he was left without cover- , ing and without protection.

to untried circumstances ; for a sublime magnanimity, that resigned itself to the will of Heaven, and yet triumphed over affliction by energy of purpose and unfaltering hope - he had no superior among his countrytnen. He had won the affections of the governor of Canada, .the esteem of Colbert, the confidence of Seignelay, the favor of Louis XIV. After the beginning of the colonization of Upper Canada, he perfected the discovery of the Mississippi from the Falls of St. Anthony to its mouth ; and he will be remembered through all time as the father of colonization in the great central valley of the West."*

Avarice, passion and jealousy were not calmed by the blood of La Salle. All of his conspirators perished by ignoble deaths, while only seven of the sixteen succeeded in continuing the journey until they reached Canada, and thence found their way to France.

Tonti, who had been left at Fort St. Louis, on " Starved Rock" on the Illinois, went down in search of his beloved commander. Failing to find him, he returned and remained here until 1700, thousands of miles away from friends. Then he went down the Mississippi to join D'I)Derville, who had made the discovery of the mouth ,of the Mississippi by an ocean voyage. Two years later, he went on a mission to the Chickasaws, but of his subsequent history nothing is known.

The West was now in possession of the French. La Salle's plans were yet feasible. The period of exploration was now over. The great river and its outlet was known, and it only remained for that nation to enter in and occupy what to many a Frenchman was the "Promised Land." Only eighteen years had elapsed since Marqi^ette and Joliet had descended the river and shown the course of its outlet. A spirit, less bold than La Salle's would never in so short a time have penetrated for more than a thousand miles an unknown wilderness, and solved the mystery of the world.

When Joutel and his companions reached France in 1688, all Plurope was on the eve of war. Other nations than the French wanted part of the New World, and when they saw that nation greedily and rapidly accumulating territory there, they endeavored to stay its progress. The league of Augsburg was formed in 1687 by the princes of the Empire to restrain the ambition of Louis XIV, and in 1688, he began hostilities by the capture of Philipsburg. 'The next year, England, under the lead of William III, joined the alliance, and Louis found himself compelled, with only the aid of the Turks, to contend against the united forces of the Empires of England, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Yet the tide of battle wavered. In 1689, the French were defeated at Walcourt, and the T^urks at Widin; but in 1690, the French were victorious at Charleroy, and the Turks at Belgrade. The next year, and also the next, victory inclined to the French, but in 1693, Louvois and Luxemberg were dead and Namur surrendered to the allies. The war extended to the New World, where it was maintained with more than equal success by the French, though the En' glish population exceeded it more than twenty to one. In 1688, the French were estimated at about twelve thousand souls in North America, while the English were more than two hundred thousand. At first the war was prosecuted vigorously. In 1689, De. Ste. Helene and D'Iberville, two of the sons of Charles le Morne, crossed the wilderness and reduced the English forts on Hudson's Bay. But in August of the same year, the Iroquois, the hereditary foes of the French, captured and burned Montreal. Frontenac, who had gone on an expedition against New York by sea, was recalled. Fort Frontenac was abandoned, and no French posts left in the West between Trois Rivieres and Mackinaw, and were it not for the Jesuits the entire West would now have been abandoned. To recover their influence, the French planned three expeditions. -One resulted in the destruction of Schenectady, another, Salmon Falls, and the third, Casco Bay. On the other hand. Nova Scotia was reduced by the colonies, and an expedition against Montreal went as far as t6 Lake Champlain, where it failed, owing to the dissensions of the leaders. Another expedition, consisting of twenty-four vessels, arrived before Quebec, which also failed through the incompetency of Sir William Phipps. During the succeeding years, various border conflicts occurred, in all of which border scenes of savage cruelty and savage ferocity were enacted. The peace of Ryswick, in 1697, closed the war. France retained Hudson's Bay, and all the places of which she was in possession in 1688; but the boundaries of the English and French claims in the New World were still unsettled.

The conclusion of the conflict left the French at liberty to pursue their scheme of colonization in the Mississippi Valley. In 1698, D'Iberville was sent to the lower province, which, erelong, was made a separate independency, called Louisiana.

Forts were erected on Mobile Bay, and the division of the territory between the French and the Spaniards was settled. Trouble existed between the French and the Chickasaws, ending in the cruel deaths of many of the leaders, in the fruitless endeavors of the Canadian and Louisianian forces combining against the Chickasaws. For many years the conflict raged, with unequal successes, until the Indian power gave way before superior military tactics. In the end, New Orleans was founded, in 1718, and the French power secured.

Before this was consummated, however, France became entangled in another war against the allied powers, ending in her defeat and the loss of Nova Scotia, Hudson's Bay and Newfoundland. The peace of Utrecht closed the war in 1713.

The French, weary with prolonged strife, adopted the plan, more peaceful in its nature, of giving out to distinguished men the monopoly of certain districts in the fur trade, the most prosperous of any avocation then. Crozat and Cadillac - the latter the founder of Detroit, in 1701 - were the chief ones concerned in this. The founding of the villages of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Vincennes, , and others in the Mississippi and Wabash Valleys, led to the rapid development, according to the French custom of all these parts of the West, while along all the chief water-courses, other trading posts and forts were established, rapidly fulfilling the hopes of La Salle, broached so many years before.

The French had, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, four principal routes to their western towns, two of which passed over the soil of Ohio. The first of these was the one followed by Marquette and Joliet, by way of the Lakes to Green Bay, in Wisconsin ; thence across a portage to the Wisconsin River, down 'which they floated to the Mississippi. On theii- return they came up the Illinois River, to the site of Chicago, whence Joliet returned to Quebec by the Lakes. La Salle's route was first by the Lakes to the St. Joseph's River, which he followed to the portajj^e to the Kankakee, and thence downward to the Mississippi. On his second and third attempt, he crossed the lower peninsula of Michigan to the Kankakee, and again traversed its waters to the Illinois. The third route was established about 1716. It followed the southern shores of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Maumee River ; following this stream, the voyagers went on to the junction between it and the St. Mary's, which they followed to the " Oubache " - Wabash - and then to the French villages in Vigo and Knox Counties, in Indiana. Vincennes was the oldest and most important one here. It had been founded in 1702 by a French trader, and was, at the date of the establishment of the third route, in a prosperous condition. For many years, the traders crossed the plains of Southern Illinois to the French towns on the bottoms opposite St. Louis. They were afraid to go on down the "Waba" to the Ohio, as the Indians had frightened them with accounts of the great monsters below. Finally, some adventurous spirit went down the river, found it emptied into the Ohio, and solved the problem of the true outlet of the Ohio, heretofore supposed to be a tributary of the Wabash.

The fourth route was from the southern shore of Lake Erie, at Presqiieville, over a portage of fifteen miles to the head of French Creek, at Waterford; Penn. ; thence down that stream to the Ohio, and on to the Mississippi. Along all these routes, ports and posts were carefully maintained. Many were on the soil of Ohio, and were the first attempts of the white race to possess its domain. Many of the ruins of these posts are yet found on the southern shore of Lake Erie, and at the outlets of streams flowing into the lake and the Ohio River. The principal forts- were at Mackinaw, at Presqueville, at the mouth of the St. Joseph's, on Starved Rock, and along the Father of Waters. Yet another power was encroaching on them: a sturdy race, clinging to the inhospitable Atlantiq shores, were coming over the mountains. The murmurs of a conflict were already heard - a conflict that would change the fate of a nation.

The French were extending their explorations beyond the Mississippi", they were also forming a political organization, and increasing their influence over the natives. Of a passive nature, however, their power and their influence could "not withstand a more aggressive nature, and they were obliged, finally, to give way. They had the fruitful valleys of the West more than a century ; yet they developed no resources, opened no mines of wealth, and left the country as passive as they found it.

Of the growth of the West under French rule, but little else remains to be said. The sturdy Anglo-Saxon race on the Atlantic coast, and their progenitors in England, began, now, to turn their attention to this vast country. The voluptuousness of the French court, their neglect of the true basis of wealth, agriculture, and the repressive tendencies laid on the colonists, led the latter to adopt a hunter's life, and leave the country undeveloped and ready for the people who claimed the country from "sea to sea." Their explorers were now at work. The change was at hand.

Occasional mention has been made in the history of the State, in preceding pages, of settlements and trading-posts of the French traders, explorers and missionaries, within the limits of Ohio. The French were the first white men to occupy the northwestern part of the New World, and though their stay was brief, yet it opened the way to a sinewy race, living on the shores of the Atlantic, who in time came, saw, and conquered that part of America, making it wha:t the people of to-day enjoy.

As early as 1669, four years before the discovery of the Mississippi by Joliet and Marquette, La Salle, the famous explorer, discovered the'Ohio River, and paddled down its gentle current as far as the falls at the present city of Louisville, but he, like others of the day, made no settlement on "its banks, only claiming the country for his King by* virtue of this discovery.

Early in the beginning of the eighteenth century, French traders and voyagers passed along the southern shores of Lake Erie, to the mouth of the Maumee, up whose waters they rowed their bark canoes, on their way to their outposts in the Wabash and Illinois Valleys, established between 1675 and 1700. As soon as they could, without danger from their inveterate enemies, the Iroquois, masters of all the lower lake country, erect a trading-post at the mouth of this river, they did so. It was made a depot of considerable note, and was, probably, the first permanent habitation of white- men in Ohio. It remained until after the peace of 1763, the termination of the French and Indian war, and the occupancy of this country by the English. On the site of the French tradingpost, the British, in 1794, erected Fort Miami, which they garrisoned until the country came under the control of Americans. Now, Maumee City covers the ground.

The French had a trading-post ai the mouth of the Huron River, in what is now Erie County. When it was built is not now known. It was, however, probably one of their early outposts, and may have been built before 1750. They had another on the shore of the bay, on or near the site of Sandusky City. Both this and the one at the mouth of the Huron River were abandoned before the war of the Revolution. On Lewis Evan's map of the British Middle Colonies, published in 1755, a French fort, called "Fort Junandat, built in 1754," is marked on the east bank of the Sandusky River, several miles below its mouth. Fort Sandusky, on the western bank, is also noted. Several Wyandot towns are likewise marked. But very little is known concerning any of these trading-posts. They were, evidently, only temporary, and were abandoned when the English came into possession of the country.

The mouth of the Cuyahoga River was another important place. On Evan's map there is marked on the west bank of the Cuyahoga, some distance from its mouth, the words "French House," doubtless, the station of a French trader. The ruins of a house, found about five miles from the mouth of the river, on the west bank, are supposed to be those of the trader's station.

In 1786, the Moravian missionary, Zeisberger, with his Indian converts, left Detroit in a vessel called the Mackinaw, and sailed to the mouth of the Cuyahoga. From there they went up the river about ten miles, and settled in an abandoned Ottawa village, where Independenise now is, which place they called " Saint's Rest." Their stay was brief, for the following April, they left for the Huron River, and settled near the site of Milan, Erie County, at a locality they called New Salem.

There are but few records of settlements made by the French until after 1750. Even these can hardly be called settlements, as they were simply trading-posts. The French easily affiliated with the Indians, and had little energy beyond trading. They never cultivated fields, laid low forests, and subjugated the country. They were a half-Indian race, so to speak, and hence did little y anything in developing the West.

About 1749, some English traders came to a place in what is now Shelby County, on the banks of a creek since known as Loramie's Creek, and established a trading-station with the Indians. This was the first English trading-place or attempt at settlement in the State. It was here but a short time, however, when the French, hearing of its existence, sent a party of soldiers to the Twigtwees, among whom it was founded, and demanded the traders as intruders upon French territory. The Twigtwees refusing to deliver up their friends, the French, assisted by a large party of Ottawas and Chippewas, attacked the tradinghouse, probably a block-house, and, after a severe battle, captured it. ' The traders were taken to Canada. This fort was called by the English " Pickawillany," from which "Piqua" is probably derived. About the time that Kentucky was settled, a Canadian Frenchman, named Loramie, established a store on the site of the old fort. He was a bitter enemy of the Americans, and for a long time Loramie' s store was the headquarters of mischief toward the settlers.

The French had the faculty of endearing themselves to the Indians by their easy assimilation of their habits; and, no doubt, Loramie was equal to any in this respect, and hence gained great influence over them. Col. Johnston, many years an Indian Agent from the United States among the Western tribes; stated that he had often seen the " Indians burst into tears when speaking of the times when their French father had dominion over them ; and their attachment always remained unabated."

So much influence had .Loramie with the Indians, that, when Gen. Clarke, from Kentucky, invaded the Miami Valley in 1782, his attention was attracted to the spot. He came on and burnt the Indian settlement here, and destroyed the store of the Frenchman, selling his goods among the men at auction. Loramie fled to the Shawanees, and, with a coloBy of that nation, emigrated west of the Mississippi, to the Spanish possessions, where he again began his life of a trader.

In 1794, during the Indian war, a fort was built on the site of the store by Wayne, and named Fort Loramie. The last officer who had command here was Capt. Butler, a nephew of Col. Richard Butler, who fell at St. Clair's defeat. While here with his family, he lost an interesting boy, about eight years of age. About his grave, the sorroi^ng father and mother built a substantial picket-fence, planted honeysuckles over it, which, long after, remained to mark the grave of the soldier's boy.

The site of Fort Loramie was always an important point, and was one of the places defined on the boundary line at the Qreenville treaty. Now a barn covers the spot.

At the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee Eivers, on the site of Fort Defiance, built by Gen. Wayne in 1794, was a settlement of traders, established some time before the Indian war began. " On the high ground extending from the Maumee a quarter of a mile up the Auglaize, about two hundred yards in width, was an open space, on the west and south of which were oak woods, with hazel undergrowth. Within this opening, a few hundred yards above the point, on the steep bank of the Auglaize, were five or six cabins and log houses, inhabited principally by Indian traders. The most northerly, a large hewed-log house, divided below into three apartments, was occupied as a warehouse, store and dwelling, by George Ironside, the most wealthy and influential of the traders on the point. Next to his were the houses of Pirault (Pero) a French baker, and McKenzie, a Scot, who, in addition to merchandising, followed the occupation of a silversmith, exchanging with the Indians his brooches, ear-drops and other silver ornaments, at an enormous profit, for skins and furs.

Still further up were several other families of French and English; and two American prisoners, Henry Ball, a soldier taken in St. Clair's defeat, and his wife, Polly Meadows, captured at the same time, were allowed to live here and pay their masters the price of their ransom - he, by boating to the rapids of the Maumee, and she by washing and sewing. Fronting the house of Ironside, and about fifty yards from the bank, was a small stockade, inclosing two hewed-log houses, one of which was occupied by - James Girty (a brother of Simon), the other, occasionally, by Elliott and McKee, British Indian Agents living at Detroit."*

The post, cabins and all they contained fell under the control of the Americans, when the British evacuated the shores of -the lakes. While they existed, they were an undoubted source of Indian discontent, and had much to do in prolonging the Indian war. The country hereabouts did not settle until some time after tlfe creation of the State government.

As soon as the French learned the true source of the Ohio and Wabash Rivers, both were made a highway to convey the products of their hunters. In coursing down the Ohio, they made trading-places, or depots, where they could obtain furs of the Indians, at accessible points, generally at the mouths of the rivers emptying into the Ohio. One of .these old forts or trading-places stood about a mile and a half south of the outlet of the Scioto. It was here in 1740; but when it was erected no one could tell. The lopality must have been pretty well known to the whites, however; for, in 1785, three years before the settlement of Marietta wab made, four families made an ineffectual attempt to settle near the same place. They were from Kentucky, but were driven away by the Indians a short time after they arrived, not being allowed to build cabins, and had only made prepai-ations to plant corn and other necessaries of life. While the men were encamped near the vicinity of Piketown, in Pike County, when on a hunting expedition, they were surprised by the Indians, and two of them slain. The others hastened back to the encampment at the mouth of the Scioto, and hurriedly gathering the families together, fortunately got them on a flat-boat, at that hour on its way down the river. By the aid of the boat, they were enabled to reach MaysvUle, and gave up the attempt to settle north of the Ohio.

The famous "old Scioto Salt Works," in Jackson County, on the banks of Salt Creek, a tributary of the Scioto, were long known to the whites before any attempt M;as made to- settle in Ohio. They were indicated on the maps published in 1755. They were the resort, for generations, of the Indians in all parts of the West, who annually came here to make salt. They oft«n brought white prisoners with them, and thus the salt works became known. There were no attempts made to settle here, however, until after the Indian war, which closed in 1795. As soon as peace was assured, the whites came here for salt, and soon after made a settlement. Another early salt spring was in what is now Trumbull County. It is also noted on Evan's map of 1755. They were occupied by the Indians, French, and by the Americans as early as 1780, and perhaps earlier.

As early as 1761 Moravian missionaries came among the Ohio Indians and -began their labors. In a few years, under the lead of Revs. Fredrick Post and John Heckewelder, permanent stations were established in several parts of the State, chiefly on the Tuscarawas River in Tuscarawas County. Here were the three Indian villages - Shoenbur^, Gnadenhutten and Salem. The site of the first is about two miles south of New Philadelphia ; Gnadenhutten was seven miles further south, and about five miles still on was Salem, a short distajice from the present village of Port Washington. The first and last named of these villages were on the west side of the Tuscarawas River, near the margin of the Ohio Canal. Gnadenhutten was on the east side of the river. It was here that the brutal massacre of these Christian Indians, by the rangers under Col. Williamson, occurred March 8, 1782. The account of the massacre and of these tribes

The hospitable and friendly character of these Indians had extended beyond their white brethren on the Ohio. The American people at large looked on the act of Williamson and his men as an outrage on humanity. Congress felt its influence, and gave them a tract of twelve thousand acres, embracing their former homes, and induced them to return from the northern towns whither they had fled. As the whites came into the country, 'their manners degenerated until it became necessary to remove them. Through Gen. Cass, of Michigan, an agreement was made with them, wheseby Congress paid them over $6,000, an annuity of $400, and 24,000 acres in some territgry to be designated by the United States. This treaty, by some means, was never effectually carried out, and the principal part of them took up their residence near a Moravian missionary station on the River Thames, in Canada. Their old churchyard still exists on the Tuscarawas River, and here rest the bones of several of their devoted teachers. It is proper to remark here, that Mary Heckewelder, daughter of the missionary, is generally believed to have been the first white child born in Ohio. However, this is largely conjecture. Captive women among the Indians, before the birth of Mary Heckewelder, are known to have borne children, which afterward, with their mothers, were restored to their friends. The assertion that Mary Heckewelder was the first child born in Ohio, is therefore incorrect. She is the first of whom any definite record is made.

These outposts and the Gallipolis settlement are about all that are known to have existed prior to the settlement at Marietta. About one-half mile below Bolivar, on the western line of Tuscarawas County, are the remains of Fort Laurens, erected in 1778 by a detachment of 1,000 men under Gen. Mcintosh, from Fort Pitt. It was, however, occupied but a short time, vacated in August, 1779, as it was deemed untehable at such a distance from the frontier.

During the existence of the six years' Indian war, a settlement of French emigrants was made on the Ohio River, that deserves notice. It illustrates very clearly the extreme ignorance and credulity prevalent at that day. In May or June of 1788,, Joel Barlow left this country for Europe, " authorized to dispose of a very large body of land in the West. " In 1790, he distributed proposals in Paris for the disposal of lands at five shillings per acre, which, says Volney, " promised a climate healthy and delightfiil ; scarcely such a thing as a frost in the winter ; a river, called by way of eminence ' The Beautiiul, ' abounding in fish of an enormous size; magnificent forests of a tree from which sugar flows, and a shrub which yields candles ; venison in abundance ; no military enrollments, and no quarters to find- for soldiers." Purchasers became numerous, individuals and whole families sold their property, and in the course of 1791 many embarked at the various French sea-ports, each with his title in his pocket. Five hundred settlers, among whom were many wood carvers and guilders to His Majesty, King of France, coachmakers, friseurs and peruke makers, and other artisans and artistes, equally well fitted for a frontier life, arrived in the United States in 1791-92, and acting without concert, traveling without knowledge of the language, customs and roads, at last managed to reach the spot designated for their residence. There they learned they had been cruelly deceived, and that the titles they held were worthless. Without food, shelterless, and danger closing around them, they were in a position that none' but a Frenchman could be in without despair. Who brought them thither, and who was to blame, is yet a disputed point. Some affirm that those to whom large grants of land were made when the Ohio Company procured its charter, were the real instigators of the movement. They failed to pay for their lands, and hence the title reverted to the Government. This, coming to the ears of the poor Frenchmen,' rendered their situation more distressing. They never paid for their lands, and only through the clemency of Congress, who afterward gave them a grant of land, and confirmed them in its title, were they enabled to secure a foothold. Whatever doubt there may be as to the causes of these people being so .grossly deceived, there can be none regarding their suiFerings. They had followed a jack-o-lantern into the howling wilderness, and must work or starve. The land upon which they had been located was covered with immense forest trees, to level which the coachmakers were at a loss. At last, hoping to conquer by a coup de main, they tied ropes to the branches, and while a dozen - pulled at them as many fell at the trunk with all sorts of edged tools, and thus soon brought the monster to the earth. Yet he was a burden. He was down, to be sure, but as much in the way as ever. Several lopped off the branches, others dug an immense trench at his side, into which, with might and main, all rolled the large log, and then buried him from sight. They erected their cabins in a cluster, as they had seen them in their own native land, thus aiFording some protection from marauding bands of Indians. Though isolated here in the lonely wilderness, and neatly out of funds with which to purchase provisions from descending boats, yet once a week they met, and drowned care in a merry dance, greatly to the wonderment of the scout or lone Indian who chanced to witness their revelry. Though their vivacity, could work wonders, it would not pay for lands nor buy provisions. Some of those at Gallipolis (for such they called their settlement, from Gallia, in France) went to Detroit, some to Kaskaslda, and some bought land of the Ohio Company, who treated them liberally. Congress, too, in 1795, being informed of their suffering?, and how they had been deceived, granted them 24,000 acres opposite Little Sandy River, to which grant, in 1798,. 12,000 acres more were added. The tract has since been known as French Grant. The settlement is a curious episode in early Western history,, and deserves a place in its annals.